by: Claude McKay (1890-1948) IS spirit is smoke ascended to high heaven.
His father, by the cruelest way of pain,
Had bidden him to his bosom once again;
The awful sin remained still unforgiven......
"The Lynching" by Claude McKay was first published in 1920. This poem refers back to a time period in American history, (to be precise much of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970), when racial segregation was still at large and mobs of white prejudice people, mostly males, would happen upon either an individual or a group of African-Americans and kill them by hanging and/or burning.
Analysis:
"The Lynching". The very title itself gives off a measure of power. I believe Claude McKay
wrote this poem to scream out his hatred toward the senseless murders of the African-American
people. I believe McKay wrote this poem asking the question why? Why do we allow this evident act of
racial hatred to go on? Why do we allow the purest of souls to fly burnt up to heaven but allow the
infected and diseased to stay on and defile?
Shomari
THE LYNCHING(an excerpt)
by: Claude McKay (1890-1948)
His father, by the cruelest way of pain,
Had bidden him to his bosom once again;
The awful sin remained still unforgiven......
"The Lynching" by Claude McKay was first published in 1920. This poem refers back to a time period in American history, (to be precise much of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970), when racial segregation was still at large and mobs of white prejudice people, mostly males, would happen upon either an individual or a group of African-Americans and kill them by hanging and/or burning.
Analysis:
"The Lynching". The very title itself gives off a measure of power. I believe Claude McKay
wrote this poem to scream out his hatred toward the senseless murders of the African-American
people. I believe McKay wrote this poem asking the question why? Why do we allow this evident act of
racial hatred to go on? Why do we allow the purest of souls to fly burnt up to heaven but allow the
infected and diseased to stay on and defile?
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
African-Americans".Wikipedia the free encyclopedia.May 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American
“ClaudeMcKay”.Wikipedia the free encyclopedia.March2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Mckay
"ClaudeMckay The Lynching". Poets.org.
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/25
ClaudeMcKay". Poetry-archive.January 2004
http://www.poetry-archive.com/m/the_lynching.html
Harlem Renaissance”.Wikipedia the free encyclopedia.March 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/harlem_renaissance
"Racial Segregation"Wikipedia the free encyclopedia.May 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation